Inspection Report October 2016

MTP was awarded the highest grades in the October Inspection – EXCELLENT – for both areas of inspection (quality of pupils’ academic and other achievements, and quality of pupil’s personal development).

Mental Toughness

In the summer term of 2016, MTP took part in some research commissioned by the Independent Schools Council. The purpose of the research was to measure how effective independent schools are at developing character and resilience compared to state schools. The results have been published today and show that independent schools have good attainment, wellbeing and behaviour and are more resilient, better at dealing with setbacks and more open to learning as a result. Therefore, independent school pupils are more ‘mentally tough’ than their counterparts at state schools. You can read the full report here:

At MTP, we took part in the research because we wanted to find a way to evaluate the work we have been doing on developing character through learning dispositions. We were thrilled to find out that our pupils have a much higher overall average ‘mental toughness’ score than the average independent school pupil. As a researcher myself, I know that it would be unsound to state that our work on learning dispositions has definitively had an impact on the results, but it is safe to assume that our work is highly likely to have had a positive effect on the ‘mental toughness’ of our pupils.

We live in times whereby it is essential to ensure that pupils’ wellbeing and mental health is treated with upmost seriousness and this is a vital aspect of our work at MTP. It is good to know that we have resilient pupils at our school and we will continue to review and evaluate our work to ensure that this continues to be the case.